Political Capital » Political Capital with Al Hunthttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital
Politics blog featuring the latest news and analysis from Washington and the US. Political editors provide insights & data about today’s politics.Thu, 07 Aug 2014 19:48:32 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.2Benghazi: No ‘There’ There — Pickeringhttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-05-18/benghazi-pickering/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-05-18/benghazi-pickering/#commentsSun, 18 May 2014 23:17:00 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=131000At the start of yet another round of inquiries into the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that claimed the lives of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, it’s worth noting the words of another American ambassador who represented Democratic and Republican presidents alike in six nations and at the United Nations “I’m in a […]

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton center, speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 23, 2013, about the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

At the start of yet another round of inquiries into the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that claimed the lives of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, it’s worth noting the words of another American ambassador who represented Democratic and Republican presidents alike in six nations and at the United Nations

“I’m in a search for, is there a ’there’ there,” Thomas Pickering says. “And I haven’t seen any ’there’ there.”

An Accountability Review Board led by Pickering faulted State Department officials for inadequate security at the Benghazi compound in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens. At the same time, the review found no evidence that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally approved any of the security decisions there.

After many hearings, House Republican leaders pointing to new questions have voted to create a special committee on the Benghazi attack. Democrats say this is aimed at undercutting a possible presidential bid by Clinton in 2016 and boosting Republican fundraising.

Pickering said in an interview for the weekend edition of “Political Capital with Al Hunt” on Bloomberg Television that the recently revealed memo of Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes on managing the Obama administration’s messaging about the attack likely wouldn’t have affected the results of his report. Some Republican critics have described Rhodes’ memo as a smoking gun

“We were not there to look at talking points,” Pickering said. “We were not there to look at what I would call post-event political hand-wrestling.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-05-18/benghazi-pickering/feed/0Jeb Bush Has Winning, `Broad-Based’ Appeal: Cohenhttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-04-17/cohen-sees-jeb-bush/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-04-17/cohen-sees-jeb-bush/#commentsThu, 17 Apr 2014 21:05:39 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=128221Bill Cohen has played with both sides of the aisle. The Republican former defense secretary for President Bill Clinton served three terms each in the House and Senate. And the way he sees it, Florida’s Jeb Bush has the best credentials for carrying his party through the middle of the field in 2016. “I think […]

The Republican former defense secretary for President Bill Clinton served three terms each in the House and Senate.

And the way he sees it, Florida’s Jeb Bush has the best credentials for carrying his party through the middle of the field in 2016.

“I think he would be a great candidate to appeal to the broad spectrum of the American people,” Cohen said in an interviewing for Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend.

The tough part, Cohen says, is the party’s divisive primary contest.

“He may have some difficulty getting through a primary if he decides to run,” Cohen said of Bush, “but I think if the Republican Party looks at winning as opposed to appealing to the narrower base of the Republican Right, Jeb Bush would be the kind of candidate I think would really gather broad-based support.”

Bush, a former two-term governor of Florida, is the son of one former president and brother of another. He has said he will decided by the end of this year about making his own bid for the presidency in 2016, with those closest to him seeing that as unlikely.

In the meantime, Bush has been traveling on behalf of his party’s 2014 candidates and appealing to the party to moderate its tone in some of the most bitter public debates — particularly immigration.

Bush has called the ambition of immigrants crossing the border illegally to feed their families “an act of love.” He had cautioned the party’s 2012 nominee for president, Mitt Romney, to dial back his rhetoric after Romney spoke of deportation of the undocumented.

On that front, Bush sounded much like President Barack Obama, who said in a question and answer session at the White House today: “We shouldn’t be in the business of tearing families apart who are otherwise law-abiding.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-04-17/cohen-sees-jeb-bush/feed/0Putin’s Russia, His Father’s Russiahttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-30/putins-russia-his-fathers-russia/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-30/putins-russia-his-fathers-russia/#commentsSun, 30 Mar 2014 15:07:39 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=126229Secretary of State John Kerry meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Paris today. On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives promises to finish work on a series of sanctions punishing Russia for its incursion in Crimea and $1 billion in aid for Ukraine, both approved by the Senate last week. If Russian President Vladimir […]

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives promises to finish work on a series of sanctions punishing Russia for its incursion in Crimea and $1 billion in aid for Ukraine, both approved by the Senate last week.

If Russian President Vladimir Putin takes his military any further into Ukraine, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders have promised still tougher sanctions, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid calling the Senate-passed sanctions only the beginning. Sen. John McCain of Arizona told Bloomberg’s Al Hunt that the next steps could involve forcing U.S. companies to withdraw their interests from Russia.

Russia wants Ukraine to grant greater powers to its regions, have a non-aligned status outside NATO and make Russian a second official language, Lavrov said in a statement on his ministry’s website yesterday, as Atlas and Meyer report.

“Putin may be changing tack a week after signing laws to annex Crimea from Ukraine in Europe’s worst political crisis since the Cold War,” they write. “Fearing that pro-Kremlin troops massing on Ukraine’s borders may invade the ex-Soviet state, the U.S. and EU have threatened to intensify sanctions on Russia’s military, energy and financial industries if Putin doesn’t back down. Russia’s proposal may be a hard sell for Ukraine’s political leaders, who are facing off for a May 25 presidential election.”

Or, based on the BBC News Magazine’s accounting of Putin’s history, something else could be at work here.

And, reading up on Putin, releasing Crimea from Russia’s hold would appear to be the last outcome of any of this.

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-30/putins-russia-his-fathers-russia/feed/0Obama’s Floor, Party’s Midterm Wall: 40 as the New 50http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-16/obamas-floor-partys-wall-40-as-the-new-50/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-16/obamas-floor-partys-wall-40-as-the-new-50/#commentsSun, 16 Mar 2014 22:55:13 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=124445For some time now, in the daily tracking of presidential job approval at the Gallup Poll, President Barack Obama has run as low as 39 and 40 percent in the public’s measure. The president’s approval ratings hit that trough in early November, as news of the partial federal shutdown spurred by Republican insistence on blocking […]

President Barack Obama waves to guests as he walks across the South Lawn before leaving the White House on March 11, 2014 in Washington, DC.

For some time now, in the daily tracking of presidential job approval at the Gallup Poll, President Barack Obama has run as low as 39 and 40 percent in the public’s measure.

The president’s approval ratings hit that trough in early November, as news of the partial federal shutdown spurred by Republican insistence on blocking “Obamacare” yielded to news that the Obama administration had botched the rollout of the health care exchanges opening under his own signature Affordable Care Act.

Since Nov. 2-4, in the Gallup track, Obama’s rating has bounced along that floor of 39 and 40 percent, occasionally rising above 40 percent and peaking at 46 percent in one round of surveys, and stands at 40 percent in the latest polling.

All of which has fed a narrative that is unhelpful for the president’s party heading into the midterm congressional elections in which Republicans hope to take control of the Senate and with it all of Congress.

The president’s approval ratings were running in the mid-40s in the months leading to the 2010 midterm elections, when opposition to the president’s health care law played a role in congressional campaigns, and the Democrats lost control of the House.

Even in the best of times, midterm elections don’t tend to play well for the president’s party, but, as Gallup has found in the past, when a president’s approval ratings run below 50 percent, the president’s party has lost an average of 36 House seats in those midterms. That average was boosted by the big loss of 53 seats that the Democrats lost in 1994, during President Bill Clinton’s first midterm elections.

Voter turnout is part of the problem for a president’s party in midterm elections. David Plouffe, who helped Obama win election in 2008 and went on to write about that victory in “The Audacity to Win,” told Bloomberg’s Al Hunt in an interview that aired over the weekend that the party has “a turnout issue.”

The outcome of the special congressional election in Florida last week, where a Republican won by almost two percentage points in a district that Obama carried by 1.5 points in 2012, Plouffe said, “is a screaming siren that the same problems that afflicted us” in 2010 when Democrats lost control of the House “could face us again.”

In 2010, Obama’s approval rating was running under 50 percent.

In early 2014, on average, he’s having some trouble hanging on to the low 40s.

Neither is a favorable scenario for the party in power.

The president’s party can only hope the president has found his floor.

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-16/obamas-floor-partys-wall-40-as-the-new-50/feed/0Kerry, Cruz, Crist: Gridiron Collisionhttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-09/kerry-cruz-crist-gridiron-collision/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-03-09/kerry-cruz-crist-gridiron-collision/#commentsSun, 09 Mar 2014 05:20:18 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=123641Put John Kerry on stage with one of the three senators who opposed his confirmation as secretary of state and an erstwhile Republican famous for hugging President Barack Obama, and you have Gridiron, an evening of pointed humor at the expense of guests of honor. “’Je m’appelle John Kerry,” the chief U.S. diplomat said in […]

]]>Put John Kerry on stage with one of the three senators who opposed his confirmation as secretary of state and an erstwhile Republican famous for hugging President Barack Obama, and you have Gridiron, an evening of pointed humor at the expense of guests of honor.

“’Je m’appelle John Kerry,” the chief U.S. diplomat said in his opening at the Gridiron’s winter white-tie-and-tails dinner, evoking his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston that nominated him for president. “Je suis reporting pour devoir.”

President Barack Obama, who delivered his own career-propelling keynote speech at that convention, was not on hand for this dinner — he was away with his family in Key Largo, Florida. Obama has attended few of the annual Gridiron Club dinners during his presidency. So the administration dispatched Kerry, returning only the night before from nearly a week on the road negotiating crises in Ukraine, Syria and the Middle East.

“It’s not lost on me at all that I was not your first choice — nor his,” Kerry told a hall of journalists, political and military leaders and stars such as tennis’ Martina Navratilova and documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.

Kerry “crossed the world to be here tonight,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said in his remarks kicking off a night of punch and counter-punch. “What a treat it must be for him tonight to share the dais with one of only three senators to vote against his confirmation.”

“Ted Cruz,” Kerry said in his stand-up routine at the head table, “it’s got to be a great feeling to be in a roomful of people who are laughing with you.”

And that fairly well set the table for several hundred people assembled in a ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel for an event that traces its roots to Grover Cleveland’s administration. It is billed as the oldest journalism organization in Washington, and Bloomberg’s Clark Hoyt, this year’s Gridiron president, noted at the start that “most Gridiron members think Instagram is what we eat to stay regular.”

In a room featuring members of the Cabinet, senators, congressmen, Red Sox and Boston Globe owner John Henry, comedian Stephen Colbert, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (co-founder and majority owner of this shop), attorneys David Boies and Ted Olson — the duo who battled over the 2000 election contest of George W. Bush and Al Gore only to unite in a fight for same-sex marriage in the federal courts — Gridiron-Washington veteran and Bloomberg columnist Al Hunt recognized Jeff Zients, the presidential economist brought in to fix the “Obamacare” Healthcare.gov website, as “Mr. Fix-it — next assignment, control/alt/delete Joe Biden.”

Hunt acknowledged Gov. Terry McAuliffe as the “Virginia governor who buys his own Rolexes.”

The president’s own Marine Band, tracing its roots to the bandleader and composer John Phillip Sousa, assisted the Washington press corps in an evening of skits that portrayed Cruz as “a Flintstone Cowboy,” celebrated New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for his “national ascension stuck at a Jersey intersection” and lamented Obama’s current political dilemma with “there ain’t no cure for the second-term blues.”

Cruz, weighing his chances for a 2016 presidential contest, confronted a crowd that hadn’t appreciated his “green eggs and ham” filibuster in a bid to block Obamacare that forced a 16-day government shutdown in October. “For many people,” Cruz said, “I might have ruined Dr. Seuss forever.”

”Nobody in this town knows how it feels to have your citizenship questioned,” said Cruz, born in Canada. Looking back on his year and a couple months in the Senate, he said, “I guess the hard lesson is that charm can get you only so far.”

“Oh, sure, I have my differences with President Obama, but I try to get along with this president, really I do,” the senator said. “When a man starts to assume absolute power, you want to stay on his good side.”

And this was Charlie Crist he was talking about: The former Republican governor, attorney general, education commissioner and state senator from Florida who ran for Senate as an independent, turned to embrace Obama at his 2012 re-election nominating convention and now is running for governor again as a Democrat.

Crist, who enjoys a permanent tan, explained that he was invited because the “Gridiron wanted someone of color.” He embraced Cruz’s joke: “Gridiron always pokes fun of candidates of both parties — could have saved time and just invited me.”

His wife sometimes reminds him that Republican Sen. John McCain, the party’s nominee for president in 2008, picked then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin over Crist as his running mate — as “more qualified.”

“I believe in freedom of speech,” Crist also said, “even if that freedom of speech is reading Dr. Seuss to Congress.”

Noting that his own book tour for “The Party’s Over” would take him to the iconic Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington Sunday morning, Crist said of his journey from the Republican Party to independence to the Democrats, “If you read it backwards, it sounds like the Joe Lieberman story.”

“Is Charlie still here?” Kerry asked when his turn arrived. Yes, Crist called out, he was still here. “I had to check,” Kerry said, “cause he’s always so quick to leave a party.”

For all the levity that Cruz and Crist brought to the head table, Kerry commanded the evening with a wide-ranging run of jokes for a club that prides itself on humor that “singes but never burns.”

“I will adhere to the motto, `singe, don’t burn,” Kerry said, “which also happens to be the motto of John Boehner’s tanning salon.”

It was good to see so many people assembled in white ties and tails this evening, Kerry said — “or, as we call it at our house, work-out gear — or, as we call it at our other house, pajamas — or, as we call it at our other house, swimming costumes.”

Echoing Obama’s promises about Obamacare, Kerry told the crowd: “If you like your rented tux, you can keep it.”

For Cruz, Kerry had some advice about 2016: “Ted, I don’t know if you’re planning to run for president — or as Hillary and I call it, secretary of state try-outs.”

“But if you do,” Kerry told Cruz, “choose your convention keynote speaker very carefully — you might end up working for him some day.”

Cosell, nephew of famed sportscaster Howard Cosell and a senior producer at NFL Films Inc., today predicted a 27-24 Broncos’ win over the Seattle Seahawks. He appeared on “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” airing this weekend on Bloomberg Television.

The reason to bet with Cosell is that he also picked the New York Giants to upset the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens to triumph over the San Francisco 49ers in the last two Super Bowls.

Cosell says Sunday’s Super Bowl in East Rutherford, New Jersey, pits the best against the best.

“How can you not look at Peyton Manning and that pass offense, No. 1- ranked in so many categories, against the Seattle Seahawks defense, number-one ranked in so many categories?” Cosell said. “So you have the best versus the best, and that is the most intriguing element of this game.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-01-31/nfl-films-cosell-tries-for-three-in-a-row/feed/0Obama Must Overcome ‘Lethargy’ in State of the Union: Daschlehttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-01-24/obama-must-overcome-lethargy-in-state-of-the-union-daschle/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-01-24/obama-must-overcome-lethargy-in-state-of-the-union-daschle/#commentsFri, 24 Jan 2014 21:17:48 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=118723Written with Michael Bender President Barack Obama must demonstrate passion that’s been lacking when he gives the annual State of the Union speech to Congress Tuesday night, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle says. Obama’s remarks should reflect the “universal recognition” that income inequality is an issue and find common ground with Republicans, Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, says in an […]

Tom Daschle, senior policy advisor at DLA Piper and former U.S. Senator from South Dakota, in Washington, D.C., in this March 20, 2012 file photo.

Written with Michael Bender

President Barack Obama must demonstrate passion that’s been lacking when he gives the annual State of the Union speech to Congress Tuesday night, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle says.

Obama’s remarks should reflect the “universal recognition” that income inequality is an issue and find common ground with Republicans, Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, says in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend.

“There’s a little bit of a feeling of lethargy right now,” said Daschle, a policy adviser at the law firm DLA Piper LLP. “He’s had some setbacks. I think he needs to re-engage and re-energize, and I think he’ll do that.”

Daschle, 66, who left the Senate after losing his re-election bid in 2004, said Obama should build better relationships with lawmakers and use the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland to end partisan stalemates.

Both parties have dueled over fiscal policy since Republicans won the House of Representatives in 2010. The next deadline is in February as the federal debt limit needs to be raised. Republicans want to attach policy changes to the increase; Obama insists he won’t negotiate.

Daschle was Obama’s choice to be secretary of health and human services in 2009. He wasn’t confirmed after congressional vetting of his finances showed that he had failed to pay more than $100,000 in taxes.

Reid, a Nevada Democrat, should find a way to let Senate Republicans vote on some of their preferred items, he said.

“There’s a tendency to want to direct the debate and keep the debate as contained as you can,” Daschle said.

Daschle said he expects Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016 and said she had garnered an unusual amount of support at an early stage of a campaign. In the 2008 campaign, Clinton had similar support and lost the Democratic presidential nomination to Obama.

Clinton should be seen as a “normal human being” for a while, he said. “You have to be a little concerned about the level of visibility and the perception that you’re trying to lock out others.”

On the Republican side, controversies surrounding New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have hurt his possible presidential aspirations at a time when he already is viewed skeptically by the party’s base, Tom Davis, a Republican consultant, said on the same program.

“His numbers are down in New Jersey, No. 1 — I mean, his whole appeal is, ‘I’m the winner,’” Davis, a former National Republican Congressional Committee chairman from Virginia, said.

Christie’s approval rating fell to 53 percent from 68 percent — losing support among Republicans, Democrats and independents — according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released Jan. 22. He has faced inquiries about his office’s spending of Hurricane Sandy aid and its ties to politically motivated traffic congestion at the George Washington Bridge.

“He’s never going to be the darling of the party base,” said Davis, now director of federal government affairs for Deloitte Consulting. “But, you know, they can make a contract with him: If you can win, you can help advance the agenda. But it’s all based on the fact that he can win in a blue state. And hen his numbers go down — if he turns upside-down, for example, in his own state — I think that takes the patina off him and he becomes more vulnerable.”

Christie, 51, was the first Republican since 1985 to win more than 60 percent of the vote in a New Jersey governor’s ace. He was third, behind U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wsconsin and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, in a hypothetical Republican presidential primary match-up, according to a Quinnipiac University poll this week.

Republicans can win seats in Congress this year if Obama continues to focus on divisive issues like income inequality, Davis said. Obama should focus his State of the Union speech next week on trying to unite lawmakers by talking about reducing he deficit, he said.

“He ought to preach unity at this point,” Davis said. “Part of his problem right now is you have a very polarized country.”

Davis predicted his party, which has a majority in the House but not the Senate, would pick up seats in the November elections. Still, Republicans face long-term problems, he said, pointing to at least 18 states — with about 238 electoral votes – that Democratic presidential candidates have won in six consecutive elections. At least 270 electoral votes are needed o win the White House.

“Even if the Republicans pick up the Senate, two years from now it’ll be jeopardized again,” he said. “If you’re Republicans, you have to figure, what part of that Democratic coalition can we pick off? Young people come to mind right away.”

Republican Governors John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin may help the party pick up crucial states in 2016, Davis said, if they win re-election this year and if either one becomes the Republican presidential nominee. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush might do that, too, he said.

“His biggest plus is, frankly, not that he’s a Bush,” Davis said of former President George W. Bush’s younger brother. “It’s the fact that he was a very good governor and he’s from a very swing state and had a pretty outstanding record.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2014-01-24/obama-must-overcome-lethargy-in-state-of-the-union-daschle/feed/0Van Hollen: Boehner ‘Stood Up to Tea Party’ — Yet Debt Limit is Real Testhttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2013-12-13/van-hollen-boehner-stood-up-to-tea-party-yet-debt-limit-is-real-test/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2013-12-13/van-hollen-boehner-stood-up-to-tea-party-yet-debt-limit-is-real-test/#commentsFri, 13 Dec 2013 16:20:26 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=113772Rep. Chris Van Hollen, praising House Speaker John Boehner for standing up to his party’s right wing on the budget, says the next test of congressional bipartisanship will be whether Republicans use the debt ceiling next year as a political weapon. “Look, I think the jury’s still out on where we go from here,” the Maryland Democrat said in […]

House Budget Committee ranking member Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at the U.S. Capitol.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, praising House Speaker John Boehner for standing up to his party’s right wing on the budget, says the next test of congressional bipartisanship will be whether Republicans use the debt ceiling next year as a political weapon.

“Look, I think the jury’s still out on where we go from here,” the Maryland Democrat said in an interview for Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend.

“The big test of that will be when we get to the debt ceiling, whether or not House Republicans again threaten not to pay the bills that are due and owing, and try and use that moment to extract, you know, concessions on their political agenda,” Van Hollen said.

The U.S. borrowing limit, which was $16.7 trillion, was suspended until Feb. 7 as part of the October deal to end a partial shutdown of the federal government. After that, the Treasury Department will be able to use so-called extraordinary measures to stave off default, such as suspending investments of a retirement fund.

The budget passed by the House yesterday covers $1.01 trillion in spending through March 2015 and would require that the debt limit be raised. The budget, crafted by a bipartisan committee led by Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, and Representative Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, passed 332-94, with 169 Republicans voting in favor.

The Senate plans to take up the budget on Tuesday.

“It was a good sign that Speaker Boehner finally stood up to the Tea Party crowd,” Van Hollen said. “The Tea Party crowd has essentially been running the show in the House of Representatives for the year.”

President Barack Obama has said he’s not willing to negotiate further spending cuts in return for Republicans supporting an increase in borrowing authority. Van Hollen said the government has incurred bills that must be paid.

The budget deal didn’t include the extension of long-term unemployment insurance sought by Democrats. House Republicans rejected Van Hollen’s bid to pay for the aid from cuts in farm subsidies being negotiated in agriculture-policy legislation.

Van Hollen said Democrats should tie support for legislation authorizing farm programs for five years, which may include cuts of $4 billion to $39 billion in food stamps over 10 years, with an extension of the unemployment benefits.

“I have lots of concerns about the ag bill, the way it’s shaping up,” he said. “But, my goodness, we know it’s got at least $15 billion in savings. Let’s use that to help these people who are out in the cold.”

Congressional Democrats enter the 2014 election year with headwinds from the flawed Oct. 1 debut of the website offering people insurance under the president’s health-care law.

Van Hollen, describing the roll-out of healthcare.gov as “very rocky,” said political damage for Democrats won’t be permanent. States including California, New York and Kentucky that run their own exchanges are doing well, he said. Maryland had stumbles similar to the federal site and is “struggling,” he said.

Obama added veteran Washington adviser John Podesta, a former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, as an adviser, and is bringing back former legislative affairs director Phil Schiliro to oversee policy implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Both men will make a difference in how the Obama administration operates, Van Hollen said. Schiliro met with House Democrats yesterday to discuss the health-care law and how the White House could anticipate and correct flaws in advance.

Van Hollen called Podesta an “old pro.”

“I think you’re going to see continued improvement going forward,” Van Hollen said of the law’s implementation. “And as more and more people sign up and you get more and more people having access to affordable care who didn’t before, you’re going to have a very different story here.”

Asked if Yellen will be confirmed, Paul said, “In all likelihood, yes.”

He spoke in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend.

Paul, a sponsor of legislation requiring regular public audits of the central bank, said, “I want to draw attention to the fact that `Audit the Fed’ has been held hostage by Senator Reid for three years.”

“Apparently Janet Yellen’s been in favor of transparency at the Fed,” he said. “That’s all we’re asking for is an open audit a year after the fact.”

]]>http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2013-10-31/paul-yellen-fed-chairman-in-all-likelihood/feed/0Cole Sees Makings of a Budget Dealhttp://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2013-10-25/cole-sees-makings-of-a-budget-deal/
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2013-10-25/cole-sees-makings-of-a-budget-deal/#commentsFri, 25 Oct 2013 17:21:25 +0000http://blogs.edit.bloomberg.com/political-capital/?p=107498Representative Tom Cole, one of the chief Republican negotiators of a congressional budget deal, said today that he supports raising revenue as part of talks with Senate Democrats. Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, said that curtailing tax breaks such as the treatment of private equity managers’ carried interest should be part of the negotiations. He also […]

Representative Tom Cole (R-OK) at the U.S. Capitol on October 10, 2013 in Washington, DC.

Representative Tom Cole, one of the chief Republican negotiators of a congressional budget deal, said today that he supports raising revenue as part of talks with Senate Democrats.

Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, said that curtailing tax breaks such as the treatment of private equity managers’ carried interest should be part of the negotiations. He also wants to generate money from U.S. companies’ untaxed overseas profits coupled with a revamp of the federal tax code.

“The reality is, you’re going to have to have a deal here,” Cole said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend. “And a deal means everybody gives something up.”

Cole, a close ally of House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, offered an insight into how negotiations could unfold: Any willingness on the Republicans’ part to raise revenues would have to be accompanied by Democrats’ willingness to cut entitlement program spending. Republicans, however, won’t insist on curbing President Barack Obama’s health-care law as a condition to keeping the government open.

The outline of the negotiations getting started next week depends on “how big a deal the Democrats want to do and whether or not we want to cut, or connect this with a larger tax reform issue,” Cole said.

Cole expressed optimism that the congressional budget conferees would be able to reach an agreement by the deadline of Dec. 13 set in legislation that ended a 16-day partial shutdown of the government last week. The conferees were appointed to try to avoid another political collision by ironing out spending differences for 2014 and beyond.